HP: The Arcane Thief

The Kingdom of Atlantis is always under pressure. After all, it's a hundred thousand feet under the ocean. Obviously it would be under pressure of like, a few billion tons of water.

But very recently a new type of pressure has been added on top of that. Due to the bombing, mass panic has spread throughout the city. People, who were already scared due to the ongoing war, are now panicked to the point of wanting to escape the kingdom.

In such a situation, the group under most pressure was a division that most people don't even know exists. It is called the Sustenance Division.

Contrary to its ordinary name and anonymity from the general public, it's actually a division which is crucial for the very sustenance of the kingdom, and which wields enough political power to even mobilise other Divisions and even the Relic Wielders when necessary.

Its purpose? To keep the people of Atlantis happy. That is their work on the surface. But the deeper purpose is to stop Kraken's influence from spreading further.

That includes keeping people from talking about Kraken, thinking about Kraken, and wanting to leave Atlantis due to Kraken.

In order to do this, they have been granted control over the news, media, social media, public leaders, almost everything that can influence people.

Any sensitive news about Kraken can be censored, and anyone trying to spread Kraken's ideology is taken into custody, no matter how important that person is. This is the extent of this Division's power.

But right now, this division is in shambles trying to control the public opinion.

"Chief, a troller discovered! He already has ten thousand views!"

"Another person demanding permission to leave the Kingdom!"

"This one is basically telling everyone to join the winning side!"

"There is inciting content in this video."

"This one is criticizing the Royal family for their negligence."

The chief, who had aged 5 years overnight, rubbed his sleep-deprived eyes.

In the past, he used to love his work, and he was very good at it. He had the power to influence the whole Kingdom. He would promote good content, create hype, choose content to be shared on the Atlantis Official, the most subscribed channel in Atlantis, and so on. It was really fun.

But right now, in the truest sense, he hated his job.

How is he supposed to do his job if the Kraken keeps dropping bombs like that? This is no longer a small matter. The reliable protection wards have been by-passed, the security has been breached, and people have died. People are angry, confused and scared. How is he supposed to suppress this matter?

If they keep trying like this, it would only make the public even more agitated.

With his mind no longer working, the chief absent-mindedly browsed through his Oceagram feed. It was an old habit of his. He was, at heart, an addict who needs to keep consuming entertaining content. Too bad, he hasn't been able to do so recently due to this emergency.

"Hm?"

The chief was surprised to see that there was actually something other than the recent tragedy being discussed.

There were two such topics which were quite popular right now. First was the return of Lady Tenebrous, who had prevented the disaster. He already knew of that. But surprisingly, the other one was the trial of an academy applicant.

What is this?

This caught the Chief's eye. Just how impressive was this Trial to be able to go viral at this point of time?

Knowing exactly how peculiar this situation was, the chief opened the video. And when he did, he was blown away. Suddenly, all the noise in the surroundings was gone, and all the problems bothering him were gone. He got fully immersed in the trial, his thoughts only revolving around it.

When it finally ended, the chief suddenly came out of his trance. With his years of experience and eye for content, he could see a lot of things that others couldn't.

'This guy… he has the 'it' factor!'

His senses were tingling. After seeing the video, and the news about Lady Tenebrous's return, an idea was forming in his head.

Usually, it would be impossible, but with these two, they might just pull it off.

The more he thought, the clearer the image in his mind began to form. His breathing quickened, and a familiar feeling returned to him after a long time. It was a feeling of excitement, filled with motivation and anticipation. It was a feeling he gets when he gets inspiration for content. It's the feeling that made him love his job.

The chief stood up. "Alright everyone. New Orders!" he said, raising his voice.

Instantly, hundreds of workers who were sitting in front of their respective screens all turn their attention to him. Their eyes, which were as tired and sleep deprived as his, looked at him with hope of finding a solution to this predicament.

"First of all, we will stop the total suppression. Just level 2 suppression will do. Rather than that, focus more on pushing up the state's response to this situation. The treatment of the injured, the compensation to affected families, restoration of the infrastructure, countermeasures and prevention, and so on. We will use the Distraction tactic."

The Distraction tactic. It's name perfectly describes what kind of tactic it is. Right now, panic and negativity is being spread throughout the kingdom through various content.

What the chief intends to do is push forward the content that is even more attention grabbing than the current predicament. Something that would get the audience hooked enough to completely distract them.

But, when he shared this idea, there were a lot of objections. For good reasons. It was true that total suppression of the news wasn't helping, but the damage without it would be even more significant. The distraction tactic can't really do much to mitigate it.

The general consensus was: It can't work. How can the public focus on something else after what happened?

The chief raised his hand to the objections. "I know, I know, distracting usually wouldn't work in such a severe situation. But, you guys have to trust me on this one. Saying so, he displayed two faces on the screen. "Make all the news related to these two algal. " His words caused a stir with in the workers.

'Kyrin Tenebrous and Chris Martin...' the Chief thought of the two people he had shown on the screen.

He had not made his decision based on the current situation. Rather, he was betting on the certainty that their future actions and achievements would be big enough to attract the attention of the whole Atlantis.

The graphs and charts ran through his mind, and with his keen intuition, he could only see them rising high.

In the past, he used to be a fan of Kyrin. He had followed her every move closely. Hence, he knew a bit about her personality.

'She would be furious.'

Kyrin Tenebrous he knew was someone who regarded Kraken as nothing but toys for her amusement. Seeing those insignificant beings being so brazen in her home, she would want to go on a rampage.

In short, her actions would be like the revenge and assurance that the people of Atlantis needed right now.

As for this new variable Chris Martin.... The chief himself had no idea exactly what he saw in him. But, he trusts his insight, which is screaming at him, that this kid will go big.

"Monitor the actions of these two individuals. Post the content regarding them directly on the official channel."

"The... The official channel?"

The Official channel means the channel with the most number of subscribers in the whole Kingdom, Atlantis Ofc. Whatever news is shared on it guaranteed to be seen throughout the empire.

.....

Axel navigated through the confusing hallways of the Royal Academy, lost in thought.

What he needed to do was clear enough. He had to go to the location mentioned in the letter and accept Kurai Sensei's offer.

After all, it was a good opportunity. The Black Ops Division, under Kyrin Tenebrous's leadership, is going to aim for the high ranking members of the Kraken with the ultimate goal of completely destroying the Organisation, which is not much different than what Axel wants to do.

But, he was still unwilling. If you ask him the reason, it's...

'I didn't like her tone.'

it was too overbearing. It wasn't really an offer, it was more like an order. It's like, 'since I've given you the offer, you have no choice but to simply come to me like a dog and thank me.'

That's why, he couldn't trust her. She seemed the type of woman who would want to tie him up and torture him for all his secrets.

In short, he just felt a strange sense of dissonance from her.

He would definitely want to join her division and work together, but only if his safety is guaranteed. If there's the slightest bit of risk, he'd rather join another division.

"It's him, right?"

"Yeah, it has to be him."

"He's wearing the academy uniform, so I can't be sure…"

"I don't think it's him. Where did all those muscles come from?"

While Axel was still pondering over the matter, he had inadvertently drawn a small crowd that had begun following his movements.

When he stopped to raise his head, the noise intensified.

"Fuck, it's him!"

In order to not stand out, he had changed into the academy uniform, he was a kind of one piece suit with armor on protective regions. Now that he was no longer wearing loose clothes, he looked quite different, causing the onlookers to be confused. But when his face was revealed, his identity was confirmed.

"Chris, can I have a picture?"

"Chris, go out with me!"

"Chris, I'm your very first rem!"

"Come to our division!"

Instantly, Axel was surrounded. The crowd consisted of students who were asking questions, taking pictures and recording him, and alumni who were trying to recruit him to their divisions.

Axel: "???"

Axel looked at the crowd speechlessly. I only arrived yesterday, and only took one trial. How did it come to this?

No matter what, the matter seemed quite fishy to him. It shouldn't be this quick. Axel casually read some of their minds and found out the reason.

'What the hell?'

He found that the main reason was because his trial had been shared on the most popular channel on Atlantis.

But, now that he was reading their minds, he came to understand a few more things as well. The concept of 'social media' and 'internet' might be new for the muggle world and the wizarding world, but it's really old here.

Thus, it has been deeply entrenched into the society, having a powerful influence on all fields of the Kingdom.

The celebrity culture is much more developed in Atlantis compared to the Wizarding world and muggle world. Fame... is a type of currency here.

That's why, when he became famous overnight, it's a big enough deal that so many people are now approaching him like this.

Though Axel was a bit (a lot) uncomfortable with the situation, an idea to deal with his previous dilemma still came to him.

"Chris, everyone wants to know, which division are going to join?!"

"You have talent for all the basic paths! Can you tell us if you have gotten any offers yet?"

"There has been a petition! People want to see the rest of your trial! Are you going to continue it?"

The questions were still going on. Even though the wizarding world hadn't yet gone as far that even students would be behaving like reporter, Axel was still fairly skilled in dealing with such situations by now.

When he finally opened his mouth, the people surrounding him naturally fell silent.

"I don't think I'll be continuing the trial—"

!!!

This was already a bit statement. Everyone who had watched his trial had felt blueballed when it ended right before the climax. Their has been quite a rukus about wanting to see the rest of it.

"—Because I'm already going to accept one of the recruitment offers."

But this statement was bigger, causing them to focus on big news rather than the continuation of his trial.

Of course, the next few questions naturally contain 'which division?'

Axel smiled. "I'm currently going to an interview for the Black Ops. If everything goes well, I'll join it."

...

Meanwhile, in her office, Kyrin was sprawled out in her seat on her couch in a very un-lady-like posture while waiting.

"He's still not here," she muttered, checking the time.

"Actually, he might not come at all," said Akiko, who knew Axel to some extent.

Kyrin gave her an 'are-you-stupid?' look. "Don't talk nonsense. Now that he knows about my identity, there's no way he'd refuse," she said with certainty.

"I've not seen you so eager in a while, boss." Estris said in her usual voice which contained no intonation. "I'm really starting to suspect something."

Is her boss really into young boys?

"Well, if you're suspecting that I'll tie him up and interrogate him, then you might be onto something…" said Kyrin, sitting up.

When Akiko, who was discretely doing some normal training in the corner, heard this a frown formed on her face as she grew vigilant. "What are you talking about?"

This was completely out of the script.

"Well, that guy had me completely fooled the whole time I was at Hogwarts. I never knew he was hiding so much power. I want to know, just how he was able to fool my perception like that," said Kyrin. She had a hungry look in her eyes. "Recruiting him is just my secondary goal."

Akiko frowned. "Don't do it." she advised seriously. She knew that Kyrin and Axel were on the same side, But if Kyrin even tried to cross the line…

"You'll regret it."

Currently, in terms of power, she knew that Kyrin was actually a level above Axel. But… Axel rarely needs power to win. And she will also obviously not stand by if he's really threatened. But, she simply didn't want Axel to get another dangerous enemy instead of a valuable ally.

At this moment, a screen opened up in front of them, showing a large number of people gathering in front of their building.

Kyrin frowned. "I thought this was one of our secret locations?" She asked Estric.

Estric had a rare troubled look on her face. "That was indeed supposed to be the case," she said, as she began checking the situation.

Soon after, the door opened and a bespectacled man with a mustache came in. "Miss, the guest you informed me about has arrived," he said with a bow as he stood aside.

Walking casually behind the butler... was the guy whom Kyrin was planning to interrogate. "It's been a while, Kurai Sensei," said Axel with a smile.

He looked at the screen which was displaying the huge crowd outside. "Ah, sorry for the commotion. I made a few friends along the way. They're curious if I've really gotten recruited into Black ops or if it's just someone trying to kidnap me. I hope you don't mind," he said, scratching the back of his head.

The hidden meaning of words was clear: 'Bitch, don't even think of trying anything funny.'

Though, only now did he spot Akiko in the corner, who actually had a bright smile on her face.

....